Losing Practice
Wednesday 08 February 2006

Some time ago I decided on a redesign for this site. Unfortunately when I say “some time ago” I actually mean over seven months ago. I know this as I created a little side section where I could try out my new design with some fancy bits, make little notes and so forth. So seven months ago and what has been accomplished and what have I learnt?

  1. My HTML and CSS skills (which I thought I had) have been removed from my brain. I used to be able to envisage a design I wanted and knock it up quickly. Now I cannot even get blocks of text to go where I want them or colours to stay where they should.
  2. IE makes me want to scream especially in relation to transparent png support. I had a (my opinion) really cool effect which worked in everything but IE that I tested it on. At one point I got it so it wouldn’t look naff on IE - It wasn’t working correctly but didn’t look odd - and then it suddenly stopped working. Will be fixed in IE7 I suspect so I can go through the pain again then wink
  3. I cannot design. I have a (again, my opinion) cool idea for a site template, fight with the HTML and CSS skills I no longer have and by the time the site is (semi) there, I realise the design is rubbish and start again. Even the design I’m working on now is one I want to change but I’m getting the redesign out of the way now even if it kills me.
  4. Porn The internet is too distracting when you’re trying to work.

I’ve also noticed my blogging is getting rather erratic and this is partially due to the redesign but mainly because I suck.

In short: I suck (not for cash ... and erm not for free either ... I’m not talking about that kind of sucking) and a redesign is coming within the next decade ... possibly.

Chickenland United Kingdom wrote:

there are lots of PNG workarounds for IE as it is a known bug.

try looking at : http://www.schillmania.com/projects/png/

not sure on your JS skillz…

02.09.06 03:23 PM


PickledPixie United Kingdom wrote:

The PNG issue I was working with was just a small part of the site, one which I was spending far too much time on… that tends to happen a lot for me.

It wasn’t important enough to attempt to implement workarounds and I think I spent so much time on it that I hated the effect I was getting anyway.

02.09.06 08:01 PM


United Kingdom wrote:

Is it just me that finds it seems to take an age to open your blog?  I’ve tried in the morning, afternoon, and after midnight, and it always seems to take an awfully long time.

As for browsers, isn’t all that matters is that it works in IE as Microsoft are the industry standard? wink Hehe, only kidding.  In fact I intend to switch to Opera one of these days as I do think that someone like me really shouldn’t still be using IE mainly.

02.18.06 02:06 AM


PickledPixie United Kingdom wrote:

I know you’re being silly but my site stats show that IE is used by just 32.3% of hits to this site.

As for the speed the site takes to open, it seems fine to me, taking as along as just about any other site out there. It’s worth the wait though, surely? wink

02.18.06 11:45 AM


United Kingdom wrote:

Hmm, well after waiting for over three minutes for it to load earlier, I decided to install Opera (The Fastest Browser on Earth) and your blog opened in just a second or two with it.  It also opened just as quickly in IE when I gave that another try, and for the first time, it didn’t just come up as plain-text like it has previously done when it finally loaded.  I wasn’t even sure if that comment I left last night had made it onto your blog after posting it, as I waited over ten minutes for it to come back and confirm the entry, but instead IE’s status indicator was all but stuck and I gave up waiting any longer.

Maybe it’s a routing problem at my end as I once again got the long delay with IE when I tried to load it a few minutes ago, but refreshing it resulted in a near instant load, complete with theme (not plain-text).

I’m still undecided about whether to switch to Opera, or maybe give Firefox another shot.  The main reason I’ve stuck with IE as long as I have is the most excellent popup blocker I use, and I’d want something equal to it in another browser.

Regardless of what browser I use, of course your site is well worth waiting for smile

02.18.06 09:12 PM


United Kingdom wrote:

I can’t read comments your blog in IE for some reason, just screws up totally.. comes up with errors on the normal page too.. but it shows as normal..

Fluffy

03.12.06 03:24 AM


PickledPixie United Kingdom wrote:

I think it’s due to a problem with the javascript I was using for the menu. It stopped working for some unknown reason and that *may* be the cause of the other issues in IE. I’ve removed the link to call the javascript since it doesn’t work anyway… see if that helps.

03.12.06 11:44 AM



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